Railroad-crossing



(No. Model.)

E. FONTAINE.

RAILROAD CROSSING. y No. 370,463. Patented Sept. 27, 1887.

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Wz'nesses: Im/enor:

o Eugene Fonaz'ne JW@ Jgyfwmm NITED STATES EUGENE FONTAINE, OE WAGON WORKS, OHIO.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,463, dated September 27, 1887.

Application filed June 1G, 1887. Serial No. 241,537. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, EUGENE FONTAINE, a resident of Wagon Works, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Grossings; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in railroad-crossings of that description wherein rotatable posts carryin g railsections are secured at the intersections of the track-rails and connected together by suitable mechanism to simultaneously turn the posts to connect the railsections with either track.

My invention has reference to the construction of the rotatable posts; and it consists in providing such posts with removable railAscclions, or their equivalents, so that at any time when it becomes necessary to renew such railsections, which are necessarily subjected to hard usage, they may be quickly removed and replaced with new ones without the least disturbance of the structure of the crossing, and Without any danger of their becoming accidentally displaced or detached.

Figure I is a diagram of a crossing of the kind described. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section through one of the rotatable posts and the rail-supports. Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of one of the rotatable posts. Fig. 4 is a Vertical central section thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, A and B are the rails of the crossing, secured, as usual, upon a suitable substructure.

C are'the rotatable posts which form the subjectof myiuvention. They are constructed identicallyalikc, and I will now proceed to describe one in detail. Thetop of the post is provided with a dovetail groove extending diametrically across the same and engaging with a dovetail tenon of the short railsection D. This rail-section is made of steel, and of a cross-section to fit the upper or bearing portion of the track-rails. It is preferably made of less height than the ordinary track-rails,

so as to give the post increased height to enter between the abutting ends of the traclrrails. This short rail-section (or rather equivalent railsection) is locked in place by means of a lockiugpin, E, held in position in a vertical channel or hole through the post and entering arecess in the under side of the railsection, as shown in Fig. 2. In this position it will be seen the pin E is locked against endwise displacement by the bottom plate, on which the rotatable post rests, and the railsection cannot be removed, except in the following manner: A small chisel or other suitable tool is introduced through a hole, a, provided in the post and leading inwardly to the pin, which at this spot is ratchet-faced, and by a proper use of such tool, and by lifting the post a suitable distance from its seat, the pin may be displaced, as shown in Eig. 4, to permit the rail-section to be laterally displaced' or disengaged from its dovetail engagement with the post, provided the post is previously turned in theangle of the crossing to permit the railsection to slide out.

Vhat I claim as my invention is l. In a railroad-crossing having rotatable posts carrying rail-sections secured at the intersections of the crossing, the combination, with the rotatable posts, of rail-sections, or their equivalents, removably secured thereto by a dovetail mortiseandtenon engagement and a locking device, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with the rotatable posts carrying a laterally-removable rai1-section,of a locking device or pin projecting through the body of the post into a hole in the under side of the railsection, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the rotatable post carrying the laterally-removable rail-section, of a movable locking-pin entering a recess in the bottom of the rail-section and extending downwardly through the body of the post to the lower end thereof, substantially `as described.

4. The combination, with the rotatable post carrying a rail-section removably secured thereto by means of a dovetail n1ortiseandtenon engagement, of a movable locking-pin projecting through the body of the post into IOO a hole in the under side of the rail-section and the lockingfpin E, adapted to engage into a reextending to the bottom of the post, substancess of the rail-section and extending to the bottially as described. tom of the post, substantially as described. 5. The combination of the rotatable post C, EUGENE FONTAINE. 5 having the lateral hole a, the rail-section D, Witnesses:

removably secured thereto by an undercut H. S. SPRAGUE, mortise-and-tenon engagement therewith, and P. M. HULBERT, 

